I can log in for some items (Music, for instance), but I can't log in for iCloud, email, etc. I don't get any failures... just a spinning wheel.
Anybody have any experience with this? Thank you.
Been reading the thread on this. I had the same issue when I installed Catalina from El Capitan - couldn't log into icloud or get my icloud email to load. It kept complaining about my id already being signed in. I finally fixed it last night. Initially I tried reinstalling Catalina but that messed up my APFS and I got the "Could not create a Preboot Volume for APFS Install. I researched that and apparently somewhere around Sierra Apple changed from HFS+ to APFS. Everything I found was saying I should delete the hard drive but I wasn't comfortable doing that. Figured that by now Apple had figured out how to roll that into the upgrade install so I opted for fixing the volumes on the drive. Then I reinstalled the Catalina OS. After that completed I hoped my issue with my id would be resolved but it wasn't. It was still complaining about the account I was using (my appleid) was already active. I stumbled upon someone (I'm going to go back and try to find their handle to give them credit) that said you should :
0pen the Terminal app
Type defaults delete MobileMeAccounts
Hit enter to execute this command. This will force macOS to sign you out of iCloud - now you should be able to log in from the iCloud pane in System Preferences.
When I did this I got a message that the default shell had been changed and it prompted me to change it to the "zsh shell" which I did and then proceeded with the above. The prompt came back and said that a MobileMeAccount didn't exist. Regardless, it did FIX THE PROBLEM!
Hope it works for you.
As stated in the Solved response, if you’ve previously been backing up your Keychain to the cloud, and you follow these steps, your Mac will download keychain locally.
Hello. I tried the solved response. Moved my keychain folder elsewhere. Rebooted and tried to log into iCloud, but I still get the "error connecting to the Apple ID server" message.
This is what finally worked for me, thank you for posting this. Finally able to use iCloud again on my Mac with Catalina.
Responding to suggesdtions how to back up the Keychains content... How will the OS know where I copied the keychains ?
Shall the original Keychains folder remain in place ?
Open Finder. Hold the Option key. Click Library. Find your Keychain folder. Copy the content somewhere "safe" on your HD/SSD. Reboot your Mac. Log in to your Mac Account. Go through some gyrations when prompted to sign back into iCloud. Voila! Your keychain will be restored.
NB: don't be too impatient and realize that Keychain, as a web service, needs to download your "stuffs" from the web and write them to your Mac. In other words, give it some time to synchronize.
When I first did this, I got an error too. In fact, it was a very crude, old looking and unpolished dialog. Something you’d imagine that Apple doesn’t use much any longer. It had a red symbol on it. I pressed on and eventually go through.
At least you kept your original files. If you are unable to press on and the occur keeps occurring, try and restore your keychain files and reboot again. Then setup an Apple Support call.
To me it’s unfortunate that this piece of critical functionality for iCloud is seemingly so fragile.
I think I may have deleted my keychain. Is that bad? I can’t sign in to iCloud on iMac since I updated to Catalina.
Can't Log Into iCloud Since Catalina Upgrade
